Carbon dots (CDs) are strongly fluorescent advanced materials that are promising for applications in bio-imaging, sensors or luminescent displays. One of the most-widely used class of CDs is synthesized via...
Although a huge number
of facile synthesis methods for nanoparticles
(NPs) do exist, the products usually exhibit a distribution in particle
size and shape. Thus, a separation step needs to be applied to adjust
the particle properties according to the needs of the later application.
Chromatography is a potentially scalable separation method which is
well-established for separating molecules and promising for classifying
NPs by size. Herein, we lay the foundations of particle chromatography
by studying the separation of a C60/C70 fullerene
mixture as well-defined particle probes using a pyrene-functionalized
silica stationary phase. C60 fullerenes are perfect model
particles as they are spherical, roughly 1 nm in diameter, interacting
via van der Waals interactions only. First, we extract the Henry coefficients
for C60 and C70 fullerenes from the elution
behavior of the fullerene mixture. Using a particle-wall as well as
particle-particle model for the van der Waals interaction potential,
we determine the Hamaker constant of the stationary phase material
from the measured Henry coefficients. Moreover, we investigate the
concentration-dependent diffusion and mass transport in the column
by quantitative evaluation of the flow rate dependent elution behavior
of the fullerenes. Our study shows the huge potential of chromatography
for the separation of nanoparticles and demonstrates the strength
of physical-chemical concepts for the quantitative analysis and the
prediction of nanoparticle classification.
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